Ready for an Awesome Week!

Hello everyone! I have negative 20 minutes left, so I'm just going to type and not stop until this email is done.

Last Monday was really awesome! We had met this awesome family, the S. Family, a couple weeks ago when their member neighbor gave us the referral. We decided to try and get to know them a little bit. We knew the Mom/Wife, B., had ties to the church, her parents and sisters being active members. Her husband E. grew up Methodist. During the lesson, it actually came out that she is a member! They are an awesome, basically already Mormon, Part-Member family that almost went unnoticed, right under our noses! I can hardly believe it.

Tuesday was WAY busy! We had an appointment at 7:30 that night with J. and B., and we brought Sister W. with us, because she is the Activity Days person and they have a little daughter named M. She came to activity days! How awesome is that!!?? 

Right after that we ran over to Lexington to see D. in the hospital! She has Congestive Heart Failure, and she had 40 lbs of fluid drained from her body! She sounded much better. Hopefully that will mean she's that much closer to baptism! Keep her in your prayers!

Friday we had District Meeting and exchanges! I went with Elder Moser to the Rockbridge area, and had a total blast! He is a great missionary and he's not even done with training yet! I'm excited to see where his mission will take him!

Sunday was great! Church was absolutely fantastic! It was the primary program, so we all got to partake of the awesome Spirit that was there that the Lord's little children bring with them. What a blessing!

Sorry this is so short. I really have no time. I love you all though and thank you for the support you offer me! Thanks for reading this!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Myself and Elder Moser

District meeting with the amazing Rockbridge district!

Hello Friends and Family!

Hello friends and everyone! Not a whole lot of time or a whole lot to report on, so lets jump into it!

On Tuesday we had a fun Mission Conference Call with all of the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and President Salisbury! We talked about the mission and it's needs, answered questions, and gave our thoughts. We've been talking a lot lately about how to continue to work effectively even when it gets super cold and dark really fast (Gotta love the winter).

We also had a really awesome district meeting that Elder Kelly taught! All about not getting discouraged as we work to continue to keep up the amazing things that we have been doing, and to continue to go even higher! It was a very spiritual meeting and I think the district was really pumped up to do awesome work.

That night we had the chance to teach B. and D. We went in with the intent to teach them about the law of tithing and fast offerings, but the Lord had something else in mind (He often does). We ended up spending the whole time resolving their concerns with baptism, and this time they set their OWN goal of November 8th for their baptism! WE ARE SO EXCITED! Unfortunately that may be after transfers, so I don't know if I'll be here, but that's okay. As long as they get baptized, that's all that matters! Success for one is success for all.

Wednesday was a slower day, but we were able to pick up a new investigator named S. Elder Numbers and I had found him EONS ago but never were able to catch him at home until now. Previously he had been a little closed with us, but in the lesson we were able to have he really opened up and asked some questions that concerned him. Hopefully we did a good job resolving them! We have a meeting with him tomorrow. 

Thursday night we were finally able to see J. and K. again! Not sure if I've talked about them before in the past, but they are living together and have 2 little kids. We started talking to them as we were walking down the street and they expressed some interest in family history! This time we were able to go back and teach J. about the Plan of Salvation and why we do family history work. We eventually got to how the Book of Mormon is the keystone of everything we teach, and asked that when he came to know it was true, would he be baptized by authority on December 12th! He accepted! How cool. It was a great experience.

On Friday we headed down to Timberlake (Lynchburg) to attend the Timberlake and Gretna Elder's district meeting! Elder Ward, their district leader, did a great job talking about Our Purpose and Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel. It was sweet. After that, Elder Underhill and Elder Kitchen (Elder Ward's two companions), and I headed back up to BV for an exchange! It was a lot of fun, especially to be in a tripanionship. Never a dull moment! While on exchanges, we were able to teach B. and D. again! This time we finally got around to Tithing and Fast Offerings, and it was a really great meeting. They both committed to live it and are excited to help build the kingdom! 

Sunday we had a really good day! It was a really good end to the week. Speaking just briefly, we were able to pick up two new investigators! We met J. at our booth for family history, and we met his wife B. when we went over to his house! We were able to have a really good talk about Family History and the Plan of Salvation, and they committed to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet! That's pretty cool. We're excited! I was also able to put my programming knowledge to use and give their daughter, who wants to be a game designer, some websites and programs to get that will help get her started. They seemed to really appreciate that.

That was my week! Thank you all for your support and for reading this! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

A flyer I made. :)

A selfie for mom since I forgot to take pictures!

Exchange Miracles and Family History Booths!

Hello one and all, family and friends!

This week has been a lot of fun! I don't have a lot of time, so let's jump into it!

Tuesday we had a district meeting, taught by our district leader Elder Kelly (whom I've known for some years now). It was a really spiritually powerful meeting about how we don't need to get stressed or overwork ourselves to put out good numbers. Our district has been #rockingit the past few weeks. We've really been doing fantastic, but Elder Kelly was concerned that if our huge jump dips a little bit, we're going to get discouraged, have no faith, etc, etc and make that dip even bigger. Luckily it seems that the areas have really stepped their game up and realized it's not about the numbers, but the people that we teach. We've really started to see great success because of that attitude.

I had the opportunity also on Tuesday to go on exchanges with Elder Malin down in the Lynchburg/Amherst area! He is getting trained by Elder Vai, who is one of our district leaders, and he is just FANTASTIC. I really was impressed with him. For only being out 2 months (which in reality is quite a while) he was able to take stewardship and leadership of the area and show me the ropes. I learned a lot about humility and obedience from just watching his example. What a blessing! We were able to find them a new investigator, a girl named D. We went and knocked on the door (she had expressed interest before) and she answered! We talked outside for a little while, taught her the Restoration, and committed her to read the Book of Mormon. Woo! They set up an appointment for Monday (today) so they could bring a male and have a longer lesson. She's pretty awesome!

On Wednesday, after exchanging back, Elder Brenchley and I went and did some service with one of our Ward Missionary friends, Brother F.! We went to a nice lady's house (J.) who E. and his wife have been helping and fellowshipping for a couple months now. After mowing her lawn, we sat down and had a great Restoration lesson with her! She committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! She didn't fully understand the importance of baptism, but we did invite her to be baptized when she found out the message was true! We'll get there, just a slower mover. That was a great blessing to be able to talk with, get to know, and teach her!

Friday was WAY fun! We met the Assistants at a restaurant called JJ's (best BBQ you'll ever have. Pulled pork eat your heart out!) and Elder William's and I headed up to Charleston for exchanges! That was so much fun. I really look up to Elder William's a lot. He was Elder Brenchley's MTC companion, so that's a lot of fun! I got to hear on both ends all the funny stories from the MTC. At one point on our exchange, we went to contact a media referral who requested a Book of Mormon. She was eh on the interest level, so we were like alrighty, here's your Book of Mormon and we'll stop by sometime later. We knocked a few doors around her house and eventually tracted into this lady, S., who is SO PREPARED. It was awesome. She has had missionaries stop by before, and she told us she read their "little blue book" (The Book of Mormon!) and really liked it. She invited us back and invited herself to church! It was sweet.

Saturday was a really great day as well. Elder Williams and I came back down to BV just before noon. Elder Brenchley and I had been setting up and getting ready for a festival called Mountain Days before I left for this exchange, and what a success it was! We had the chance to set up a booth in the street where TONS of people walked by. We also had a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Mormon Edition" set up on the other side of the booth. Its a trivia like game meant to get people interested in the various topic that we teach about, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Temples, Eternal families, etc. It was a BLAST! We actually were able to teach a new investigator, A., while we were doing the game with her about temples, and we set up a return appointment were we can come talk about temples some more with her! #miracles.

Saturday was also great because we got to spend a lot of it with President Salisbury, our Mission President, who is one of the most amazing men I know. We had interviews that morning right after I returned from Charleston, and we also were able to attend the Priesthood Leadership Session of Stake Conference with him, as we were invited by him and President Jones (our Stake President). That was great!

Sunday was Stake Conference! B. CAME!! WOO HOOOOOOO!! D. was ill that day, but it was a HUGE milestone for B. to come without D. Usually you'll only get them there if you get both of them, but she came, and LOVED IT! I'm so thankful for all the awesome talks that were given. One on the enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ was just A+ material. So great. President Salisbury also spoke on how we have all been given various talents to serve the Lord and preach the gospel. He encouraged us all, but especially the youth, to ponder for 30 seconds about how they can use their talents to spread the message of the Restoration and the Atonement. What a great day. 

We were also able to pick up two new investigators, J. and K. , on Sunday. We had met them before, but were finally able to teach them on their porch! They were VERY interested to learn about eternal families and temples, and we were happy to oblige. 

That was my week! Thank you all for reading this! I love you all! Talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Brax Johnson

Who are your ancestors? Find out here and ask these cute elders. :)

Elder French. One of my favorite Elders. Great friend!

Elder French.  The super Elder.

The amazing Elder Malin!

Elder Rueda's scary carnivorous plant. :)

Em - leaves for you!

The drive back from Charleston - I64 - it's beautiful

Our AMAZING infographic!!!

Seriously. AMAZING - Infographic!

The Elders :)

The wonderful Rockbridge district!

The Family History Booth - at the Mountain Festival

Check out our infographic

This place is rather pretty mom. :) 

The AMAZING Elder Williams!

Our Festival!

Find your ancestor! with Elder Kelly and Elder Moser

This was taken when it was almost over.
There were 100x more people earlier!!!

Conference Week!

Hello everyone! It was General Conference this last week! How amazing was it for you? I love conference weekend. I hope you all found the spiritual nourishment and feeding that you were seeking.

Earlier this week, on Monday, we had the chance to teach B.&D. again! This time we brought the P. family, a really awesome younger couple, as well as Sister B.. We had a great lesson on Obedience, the Ten Commandments, and specifically Sabbath Day observance. They just become more and more prepared every time we go over.

Tuesday was LONG, but GREAT. We were able to go up to Charleston to MLC and get taught about what direction this mission needs to go in. President Salisbury encouraged all of us to "live the higher law" that Jesus Christ taught while he was here on the Earth. We were also encouraged to take that encouragement to our zone! I'm thankful for the opportunity to be led by a man so close to the Spirit. 

Wednesday was a really successful day! We were able to teach both R., B. &D.! We had a good lesson with R., reading 1 Nephi 4 with him. He enjoyed it and when we went back on Friday (for just a quick follow-up visit) he remembered what he had read and read 1 Nephi 5! Unfortunately he did not come to conference, so that was a bummer. We aren't sure why, he was really awkward about the whole thing. Hmm. We'll keep working with him!

As for B. and D., we were able to teach them the Law of Chastity and prepare them for the Tithing and Fast Offerings lesson we'll be having in a couple days! Like I said above, they are just awesome. Hopefully they will be baptized October 25th! That is the date they are shooting for, and we think that with just a little more preparation, they will be ready. I hope they think they are ready themselves. It seems sometimes we are the biggest hindrance to our own progression. That's why I loved the talk in conference about asking in prayer, "What is keeping me from progressing?" and then diligently trying to overcome that obstacle with the help of the Lord.

On Friday we had Zone Meeting! That was a great meeting. We were able to show our zone the zone goals for the transfer, and it seemed that everyone was pretty excited for what we can accomplish in the next few weeks! Just a quick shout out to our zone, we did GREAT this week! We either hit broke almost everyone one of our goals, (people that have a date to be baptized, investigators at sacrament meeting, progressing investigators, and new investigators) except for baptismal dates, but we were just 1 off from hitting our goal of 30 for that one! I'm so blessed to serve in such an amazing zone with such amazing missionaries.

After Zone Meeting I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Rasmussen, serving in Clifton Forge, down here in BV! He is one of our amazing District Leaders, and I'm thankful for the chance I had to learn from him and what he wants from his mission and his life. He's an awesome tall redhead from Meridian, Idaho, and has been on his mission 3 months longer than I have but is one of the most dedicated missionaries I know!

Not a whole lot happened over the weekend, except for the Saturday Morning Session! We were able to get B. and D. to the B.s house!! They got to watch conference!! B. said it was nothing like she expected, and she absolutely LOVED IT! So great. I'm so happy they got the chance to watch it! You could really see the Spirit working with them and testifying to them that what they wee hearing is true. It shouldn't be long before they make the step into the baptismal font! What a glorious day that will be.

Thank you all so much for reading my report! I love you all and wish you the best week ever! Make it happen! Have a great day and I'll talk to you next week. 

Love,
Elder Brax Johnson